The Pale Tree transports you to a "vision" of Orr, although it is no mere illusion - you can die and even gain credit for exploring as if you were actually in the area. The quest markers lead you around the city, although it is largely up to you to decide how you want to get there. The next marker is triggered when the vision of the tree talks to Trahearne. If the first conversation does not trigger you should logout and restart.

Along the way, you will encounter Orr Spectral foes. These are basically enchanted weapons that move on their own. Some of them are already floating about, but others only spawn when you get close enough to them - you will notice the weapons lying on the ground. Avoid getting near them if you want to prevent unnecessary fights.

Upon reaching a certain area, you will see a vision of Trahearne's future, where he is rallying troops to fight against Zhaitan. These consist of members of all three Orders. After the speech, these illusory fighters will charge forward and two large groups of Risen will spawn. An all-out battle takes place; kill all the Risen to proceed. The NPCs are pretty strong and can handle the enemies on their own for the most part. You must kill all of the Risen Giants in order to continue. It is possible to skip this part by following the path to the southwest or by just hanging back and trying to avoid aggro.

After the battle you are led to visions of Destiny's Edge and will learn the reason for their split up when you talk to them.

Proceeding further into the city, you will enter the Royal Tombs. A few Risen spawn along the way; they are location-based, so move slowly to avoid triggering too many at once. At the end of the tomb, you will have to fight an Eye of Zhaitan. It has a beam attack that causes Confusion, shoots lightning balls, and can also spin in place to cause heavy damage to anyone nearby. Use of ranged weapons and extra summoned extra allies are very useful here, since Trahearne deals almost no damage and the Eye tends to not target him.

After defeating the Eye, you talk to the ghost of the Last King of Orr, who tells you to seek the source of the corruption, and implies that Zhaitan himself is not the cause. The quest marker will point you to another location in the city. There are several Orr Spectrals along the way; they don't move, so avoiding them is easy. Once you reach the location, your final task is to defeat the Risen Gatekeeper. He is a hammer-wielding foe, but oddly enough hits for very little damage and moves slowly, making the fight very easy. Trahearne will receive the magical sword Caladbolg just before this fight.

Once the Gatekeeper is defeated, the "vision" ends and you are transported back to The Grove. Speak to the Pale Tree to finish the mission.

At the end of the mission, the Pale Tree asks your character of their greatest fear. The player will have to choose one of three options, this choice (

) will determine which missions the character takes part in during the seventh (the next) personal story chapter. You may wish to check over the missions in each path before making your choice, excluding story steps common to all paths, these missions are:

Note that, provided you press ESC instead of clicking on the close dialogue option ("Thank you, Pale Tree. I will remember your wisdom."), then you may talk to the Pale Tree again to change your response. Your response is submitted when you click on the

The Pale Tree showed us a vision of Orr. Trahearne has pledged to find a way to heal that ruined land. For my part, I swear to find a way to defeat Zhaitan. These are dangerous, amazing times in Tyria's history. I hope I can live up to the Mother Tree's hopes for the future.

When talking to Avatar of the Tree after the first cinematic but before entering the Dream of Dreams, charr and asura players get a dialogue option mentioning the sylvari tutorial's events, while sylvari characters do not.

After defeating the Gate Guardian, sometimes you will not be instanced back to The Grove. This causes you to have to start over.

After defeating the Gate Guardian, if you die in the Grove (by falling from the Omphalos Chamber) and pick the return to checkpoint option, then you will return to the dream of Orr.

When the Personal story was restored to its original form in the June 23, 2015 update, this mission underwent significant dialogue alteration for clarity and brevity. The above dialogue is accurate to the current version of the game, the below shows original dialogue that was cut or replaced.

^Trahearne Hail, Mother of the Sylvari. We come to seek your wisdom.Avatar of the Tree Bide a while, Trahearne, my son. I have much to show you both.Avatar of the Tree: Come to me, dear one. Let me show you the way.

^Trahearne: These monsters are horrific! Worse than the ones at Claw Island. How can we possibly defeat them?

^Vision Trahearne: Together — charr and human, Priory and Vigil, all races and all paths of life; we stand against Zhaitan.Vision Trahearne: The dragon wants us to be afraid, because fear will tear us apart. Fear will destroy us!Vision Trahearne: But I tell you this — I am not afraid! I may die, but I will never kneel!Vision Trahearne: Did you feel that? It is the dragon who is afraid!

^Trahearne I...I do not understand. Is this a vision of my future? But I'm a scholar. I'm no general!

Zojja: Eir is useless, and the others are fools to follow her! I can beat the dragon myself. Watch me.

Will you really let your stubbornness condemn everyone?

I call it perseverance. Don't even try to change my mind.

I have another question.

You'll see that we all need each other.

This isn't what Snaff would have wanted.

Snaff would have wanted victory, not useless skinbags.

I have more questions.

Snaff was a hero. He deserves a better legacy than this.

This is no time for arguments.

Talking to Eir:

Eir Stegalkin: His ghost haunts me. I failed him. I failed all of them.

You didn't force Logan to leave. How is this your fault?

I created the strategy. I gave Logan the option to leave. I should have forced him to stay.

You can't turn your back on Tyria because of one mistake.

Leave me. This pain is too deep for words.

Tyria needs Destiny's Edge.

^Caithe: I've tried so very hard. They can't stop arguing. They can't understand that the dragons are more important.Caithe: They'd throw everything away! I'm alone—and I'm tired.Faolain: No, my love. You are never alone, my love. I've always been here, waiting for you.Faolain: Come back to me. If the world must end, let us spend our last days in each other's arms.Caithe: I've missed you so much, my beloved Faolain. You're all I have left. For you...Yes. I will fall into Nightmare.